He takes on the fight against rare cancers by the bedside as a carer for his wife Donna, and on the track as his passion project Motor Events Racing raises funds to support patients and families, and last month Ben and his team reached an amazing milestone – $17,000 raised for Rare Cancers Australia (RCA), a total that continues to climb today.
“Donna was diagnosed in 2019 with an extremely aggressive one-in-a-million type of cancera disease where abnormal cells split without control and spread to other nearby body tissue and/or organs called adrenocortical carcinomacancer arising from tissues that line organs. It has been a long road since which has included major surgerytreatment involving removal of cancerous tissue and/or tumours and a margin of healthy tissue around it to reduce recurrence to remove her 20cm tumoura tissue mass that forms from groups of unhealthy cells and affected kidneya pair of bean-shaped organs in the abdomen that are responsible for filtering excess water and waste products from the blood and converting them into urine to be removed from the body, adrenal gland and a very small part of her spleen. She has also undergone radiation therapya treatment that uses controlled doses of radiation to damage or kill cancer cells, chemotherapya cancer treatment that uses drugs to kill or slow the growth of cancer cells, while minimising damage to healthy cells, immunotherapya treatment that uses a person's immune system to fight cancer, as well as other treatments and numerous hospital stays. I’m so proud of her and how strong she’s been throughout,” shared Ben.
“It was around ten months after Donna’s initial diagnosisthe process of identifying a disease based on signs and symptoms, patient history and medical test results that the idea was formed to make the racing series and align it with fundraising for RCA.
“I was going to get involved in participating in some of the RCA fundraisers, but I felt like this wasn’t enough, I wanted to do more and something that just wasn’t a once-off. So, Motor Events Racing was created.”
The Motor Events Racing team – from left to right: Ben, Paul, David, Harrison and Leigh.
Motor Events Racing delivers Australia’s largest cheap car racing events and with Ben at the wheel, he and his team hold events across the country where car enthusiasts of all skill levels can get together, build their own race cars and test their wheels in a fun, friendly, safe and affordable environment. They do this all while raising funds for RCA – and for bragging rights, with a prize given to the team who tops the fundraising leaderboard at each event.
“I love every moment of running these events. Our races are not like typical motorsport events, there is minimal focus on winning, it’s all about just having fun. Teams support each other and the pits are full of friends and family. You cannot look around the track without seeing someone laughing or up to lighthearted mischief,” continued Ben.
Ben, who works as a National Manager at a large Australian retailer, balances full-time work, doctors appointments, and family life with Donna and his young daughter with his love of car racing and paying it forward through Motor Events Racing. This can mean long days and long nights, but he is driven to succeed – for Donna and to support more patients, carers and families who live with the uncertainty of a rare cancer diagnosis.
“I never would have dreamed that we would hit such a fundraising milestone so early in our campaign. The generosity and effort that the racing teams have gone to is unreal, I’m so proud of everyone that has got involved to help support,” said Ben.
“During Donna and my continuing rare cancer journeywhat a person experiences/lives from the time they think they have cancer, we have been exposed to a lot of stories about other people’s cancers. The hardest to hear are always from the people with a rare or less common cancer. Their desperation to try to find answers or a treatment plan, their overwhelming feelings as patients try to figure out how they will fund treatments with crippling costs not supported by the government, and the hopelessness that rare cancer patients and their families have to deal with is what really hits home for me.
“It’s for these reasons that Motor Events Racing will continue to raise funds and awareness for RCA and the patients they support.”
Thank you to Ben and the Motor Events Racing team!
To find out how you can support Rare Cancers Australia at a Motor Events Racing experience near you visit: www.motorevents.com.au
Ben has also shared more about his journey as a carer in an episode of our podcast Radio Rare, you can listen here: www.rarecancers.org.au/radio-rare